Rep. Paul Ryan said Sunday that S&P’s downgrade of U.S. credit was a “vindication” Republican actions and his budget plan, which would end Medicare as it exists today.

“I am not very surprised with the downgrade,” Ryan told Fox News’ Chris Wallace. “We more or less saw it coming because we are the wrong fiscal path. We’ll find out what spike in rates we are going to get. Obviously not only does it hurt the federal government and its ability to close deficits, but it hurts people. Car loans, home loans, all these things are going to go up. And so, it is because Washington has not gotten its fiscal house in order.”

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“Yes, it was those actions, debt ceiling hostage-taking that led to the downgrade. And the end result of the negotiations was massive budgetary austerity,” Linkins wrote.